Doha, June 16 (QNA) - Under the patronage of HE Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, the 12th Doha Islamic Finance Conference kicked off in Doha on Tuesday.

The conference, held under the theme: "Islamic Finance in the Age of Agentic Systems", was inaugurated by HE Minister of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al-Thani, with HE Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs Ghanem bin Shaheen bin Ghanem Al Ghanem in attendance.

The event convened government authorities, international organizations, as well as financial and academic enterprises in the domains of economy, finance, and technology.

The conference intends to envision the paths of Islamic funding in the era of agentic artificial intelligence, advanced systems that are capable of transcending the conventional and generic AI boundaries to present entities that are capable of undertaking independent roles and taking decisions based on Sharia regulations and legal systems.

Overall, the conference explores avenues for leveraging AI to advance endowment, strengthen participatory economy, and unpack the phenomenon of agentic systems to elevate the efficiency of managing Zakat and achieve sustainable development.

Addressing the inaugural session, HE Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dukhan Bank Sheikh Abdulla bin Fahad bin Jassim Al-Thani said the world is incredibly evolving in terms of the nature of smart technologies.

He affirmed that there are wider opportunities to reshape financial services and operations and subsequently reinforce efficiency, competency and capability of responding to changes, and ultimately usher in a new era of data- and knowledge-based financial innovation.

According to Dukhan Bank, His Excellency noted, developing these technologies is an opportunity to further shore up the pioneering of Islamic banking through leveraging cutting-edge technologies at a time the bank considers this digital transition as a core pillar in its path owing to the technology's significance in charting the future of Islamic financial future.

This pathway has been materialized in the bank's performance throughout 2025, he noted, stating that the bank maintained its positive performance, reflecting a robust financial position and its capacity for sustained growth and long-term sustainability.

On the digital stage, the bank continued to upgrade its digital platforms and services in terms of payment and banking solutions, with the bank being granted the award of best digital transformation initiative in the Middle East and North Africa in 2025.

Director-General of the General Directorate of Endowments at the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs (Awqaf), Eng. Hassan Abdullah Al Marzouqi, stated that the ministry continues to be a foundational pillar and a defining feature of Islamic civilization and the building of contemporary societies.

Today, he said, given the rapidly evolving technologies and the emergence of smart systems capable of independent decision-making, humans find themselves before a phase of mutations affecting various fields of Islamic work and institutional development, broadening wide horizons to foster operational efficiency and governance.

Al Marzouqi explained that these mutations impose a responsibility to anticipate their legal, regulatory, and Sharia implications, and to govern these technologies and leverage them in a way that determines public interest, reinforces sustainable development, and simultaneously ensures the growth and sustainability of endowment assets and the definition of the conditions set by donors within a disciplined Sharia framework.

On his part, the chief financial and tax officer at Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), Hamed Al Saadi, affirmed that this year's conference theme reflects the significance of the transformations taking place in the financial sector considering artificial intelligence, noting that AI-based solutions offer substantial capabilities, including a deeper understanding of client needs.

He further stated that despite the major opportunities provided by these technologies, optimal utilization requires addressing a set of challenges, foremost of which are issues of governance, transparency, and accountability, alongside questions surrounding the degree of autonomy of these systems.

For his part, the Secretary-General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), Dr. Qutb Mustafa Sano, shared that the challenge today is not whether to accept or reject agentic intelligent systems, but rather how to guide them and leverage their benefits consistently with the objectives of Islamic Sharia.

The future relationship between the Muslim community and agentic systems will not be a conflict between humans and machines, Sano noted, but rather a model of integration and cooperation, where machines provide services while moral and legal responsibility remains with humans, and these technologies contribute to deepening efficiency, precision, and speed of execution.

The Chairman of the Higher Organizing Committee of the Doha Islamic Finance Conference, Prof. Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, affirmed that this year's conference comes at a time when the world and the region are going through rapid mutations in which economic, technological, and geopolitical dimensions are intertwined in an unprecedented manner.

Recent events have demonstrated how limited developments within a geographic scope can rapidly extend their impact to global markets and the movement of trade and energy, he said, while agentic systems have emerged as one of the foremost tools relied upon in responding to these changes, given their ability to analyze vast amounts of data and make decisions in record time.

Al Sulaiti noted that the expansion of agentic systems in the world of finance and business, taking over tasks that were exclusively reserved for humans for decades, makes the study of Islamic finance and its role in this future landscape a strategic imperative that goes beyond technological interest toward anticipating the future of the financial industry.

The responsibility of Islamic finance does not stop at adapting to these mutations but extends to contributing to the formulation of a financial model that combines technological efficiency with value-based governance, Al Sulaiti underscored.

The conference agenda is fourfold: Islamic financial institutions and applications of intelligent systems, the evolution of endowments in the era of agentic intelligent systems, virtual influencers and Islamic finance, and zakat and development in the environment of agentic systems. (QNA)